South Florida Personal Injury Blog

Slip and fall cases, sometimes known as trip and fall depending on the circumstances, are some of the most common personal injury lawsuits, according to Broward injury attorney Andrew Alitowski. Slip and fall cases are some of the most unfortunate because they not only cause severe and often lasting injuries, but they are frequently highly preventable. When businesses and other locations negligently fail to properly maintain their premises, customers can fall. Because Florida is home to large numbers of retirees, Broward businesses should be careful: if a business’s maintenance was insufficient such that it caused a person to slip and fall, it will be liable to that person for her injuries. This is usually true even if the plaintiff suffered more extensive injuries due to special problems with their own bodies, a rule that legal scholars call the Eggshell Skull Doctrine. If a Fort Lauderdale resident Fanny slips and falls on an unmarked wet floor in a local grocery store, causing her to crack her skull open, the store would still be liable to her for the damages – even if the owners and employees had no way of knowing about the delicate nature of Fanny’s skull or the degree of harm she would suffer from a fall.

Fort Lauderdale accident lawyers Alitowski & Moore believe that people who have been injured from falling due to unsafe circumstances should be compensated. If a wet floor is unmarked or there are dangerous obstacles, compensation for damages such medical expenses and time off of work is reasonable and fair.

The Eggshell Skull Doctrine developed in the courts over many years. In 1961, a factory worker was slashed with a heated substance that burned pre-cancerous tissue on his face. The worker developed cancer, apparently as a result of the burn, and died. The court concluded that the company was liable for all of the man’s damages – even though only the burn itself could have been foreseen.

In an even more famous case, which most lawyers studied in law school, came out of Wisconsin in 1891. A fourteen-year-old boy was recovering from serious leg problems when he was kicked in the shin by an eleven-year-old at their school. The younger child was unaware of the problem at the time he kicked the older boy. The fourteen-year-old’s leg was rendered permanently unusable after the kick. The Wisconsin Supreme Court determined that the younger boy was responsible for the entirety of the injuries.